Project Clearinghouse

Cultural Politics of Sustainability at UCSC

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

The project intends to solve, or at least contribute to rectifying, the lack of awareness of sustainability imperatives on campus, which present challenges in realizing the goals of sustainability. Its solutions include: building awareness, education and engagement about sustainability at UCSC; engaging UCSC’s diverse faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students about this topic; and contributing to the formation of a “sustainability culture” at UCSC.

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Business & Economics
Energy & Climate
Awareness, Education & Engagement
Social Justice
Project Status: 
In Progress
Project End Date: 
12/16/2016
Project Location: 
On campus



Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressDepartment
Tj Demos
tdemos@ucsc.edu
HAVC

Project Description: 

This project comprises a series of UCSC interdisciplinary symposia and workshops dedicated to the topic of sustainability. Organized in relation to the research and practice of the Arts-based Center for Creative Ecology (which I direct at UCSC), the series intends to bring to campus 2-3 invited speakers representing expertise in diverse areas of sustainability studies, and with them organize discussions with interdisciplinary members of UC faculty and graduate and undergraduate students on the history, meaning, and conflictual elements of sustainability. The project will also focus on critical discussion of UCSC’s Campus Sustainability Plan, including knowledge-sharing and assessment of its meaning, goals, and progress to date. As a collective learning project, it will stimulate the objectives of “awareness, education, an engagement,” mobilizing the creative and critical resources at UCSC in attempting to bridge the divide between theory and practice, academic research and sustainable living, science and the arts and humanities. The project will be organized in conjunction with the Center for Creative Ecologies, building on its commitment to investigating the intersection of art, activism, and ecology through interdisciplinary research and practice. It will also correlate with the high-visibility Arts Dean’s Lecture Series, which I will direct during Spring term of 2016, dedicated to the topic of “Climate Justice Now! Art and Environment Today.” The project’s symposia and workshops will synergistically build on that lecture series and selectively engage its guest speakers (particularly those whose work addresses sustainability), drawing in its estimated several hundreds of students as participants in the “Cultural Politics of Sustainability” project.

Metrics for Success: 

• Exposure to sustainability discourse: Increase awareness among participants. Most clearly measured via attendance rates, participation in workshops, and visits to website.
• Direct Response / Performance: Events are held according to plan, and make substantial progress in addressing the topic of sustainability. Measured by academic quality standards.
• Content: Improve engagement with UCSC stakeholders. Most clearly measured by networks produced, events held, publicity and marketing, and website production.

Result Categories: 
Education/Outreach
Results: 

This project’s outcomes will be intangible, though hopefully ones that will lead to tangible effects. Building education and awareness about sustainability issues will contribute to the critical consciousness of climate change challenges on campus, and will thus help develop the knowledge of these crucial issues facing the UCSC community. That knowledge will play an integral role in determining how people respond to climate change in the future, how they choose to support the campus’ sustainability plan, and how they decide to become stakeholders of sustainability.